WHO Asks Rich Countries To Pay Up $16bn COVID-19 Plan

The World Health Organisation asked rich countries to pay their fair share of the money needed for its plan to conquer Covid-19 by contributing $16 billion as a matter of urgency.

WHO that made the demand on Wednesday said rapid cash injection into its Access to Covid Tools Accelerator could finish off Covid as a global health emergency this year.

This Newspaper is aware that the WHO-led ACT-A is aimed at developing, producing, procuring and distributing tools to tackle the pandemic: vaccines, tests, treatments and personal protective equipment.

ACT-A gave birth to the Covax facility, designed to ensure poorer countries could access eventual vaccines, correctly predicting that richer nations would hog doses coming off the production lines.

The scheme, therefore, wants $16 billion upfront from wealthy nations “to close the immediate financing gap”, with the rest to be self-funded by middle-income countries.

“If higher-income countries pay their fair share of the ACT-Accelerator costs, the partnership can support low- and middle-income countries to overcome low Covid-19 vaccination levels, weak testing, and medicine shortages,” he said in a statement.

“Science gave us the tools to fight Covid-19; if they are shared globally in solidarity, we can end Covid-19 as a global health emergency this year.”